Rev. Tess Baumberger: The common pilgrimage of world religions

Wednesday

Nov 17, 2010 at 12:01 AMNov 17, 2010 at 4:17 PM

All of the world’s major religions have a tradition of pilgrimage, often to sacred sites. The journey itself is sometimes as important as the destination. Where are your sacred places? Where is your holy land? Seek it, if you can.

Rev. Tess Baumberger

“Where is our holy land?” asks a hymn in our Unitarian Universalist hymnal. It answers its own question, “Within the human soul, wherever free minds truly seek, with character the goal.”

This Sunday, I will be asking the same question in a service about pilgrimage — a sacred journey to a place with a religious or spiritual significance.

With the recent release of the movie “Eat, Pray, Love,” based on Elizabeth Gilbert’s memoir of her pilgrimages to Italy, India and Indonesia, the idea of sacred journey has gained some footing in our consciousness.

The pilgrim path is a timely topic as we approach Thanksgiving’s traditional story about the Pilgrims. Not only that, the Hajj – the pilgrimage to Mecca, expected at least once in the life of any Muslim who can afford the journey — is happening at this time.

All of the world’s major religions have a tradition of pilgrimage, often to sacred sites. Many sites are special shrines to the “saints” of those religions. Some are places thought to have powerful healing energies. The journey itself is sometimes as important as the destination. In fact, in many traditional cultures, the sacred journey is not to a particular destination but simply out into the wilderness, as a rite of passage.

Why might pilgrimage be so important in so many different religions? I believe there are several reasons having to do with what pilgrimage requires. First and foremost, pilgrimage requires a desire for spiritual growth and a hunger to transcend the everyday in search of what is of ultimate meaning in life.

Pilgrimage also requires a measure of self-love, as illustrated by a story about the 8th century Sufi mystic poet, Rabia-al-Adiwiyya. Born a slave and later set free, she felt unworthy of divine love until deciding to undertake the Hajj. Her spiritual self-confidence began to grow at that point.

Pilgrimage requires a commitment to one’s spiritual quest. Once you decide to make the journey, you must prepare yourself for it physically as well as spiritually. A pilgrimage can be costly financially, as well as in energy and time. Overcoming all the internal and external obstacles that arise in the planning stage requires perseverance. Part of the power of pilgrimage is the committed, focused intention it requires.

Another aspect of pilgrimage is the movement itself. Moving yourself through space to another location requires some physical strength. In some cases, it requires a great deal. For instance, climbing a mountain to a shrine. The more strength it requires, over a greater distance or length of time, the stronger you become.

It seems to me that there is something about this physical movement that helps to bring the spiritual fruits of the pilgrimage home. There is power in actually moving your body to a different place, with new sights and sounds and smells. All the newness brings to a physical level what we may be encountering internally as the journey progresses. In some sense, physical movement during pilgrimage is merely a symbol of the spiritual journey happening inside. Movement makes that inward journey concrete, giving us physical landmarks to which we attach moments of insight and inspiration.

In addition to commitment, perseverance, strength and movement, pilgrimage requires us to pay attention to both the internal and external aspects of journey. We must remain aware of how far we have journeyed and the landmarks we have witnessed along the way. We must take note of the turning points, especially the big one that happens as we reach our destination, and turn again toward home. As we return, we must pay attention in order to find ways to return renewed, refreshed and reborn.

Of course, it is possible to undertake a spiritual journey without leaving home. Rabia had this insight 12 centuries ago. The story goes that, on her way to Mecca, Rabia realized that the Kaaba was not God and that her longing was for Allah’s face alone. She returned home rejoicing. Whether or not we can physically move ourselves to some sacred place or some holy land, we can always take journeys of the heart.

Even so, sometimes in life we must make that inner journey manifest in outward action, if only as a sign to ourselves that this is important, that we are important enough to make this journey. In the coming days and weeks, take some time to consider where you would go on pilgrimage if you could.

Where are your sacred places? Where is your holy land? Seek it, if you can.

The Rev. Tess Baumberger, PhD, is minister at Unity Church of North Easton, MA. For more information and links to this and other Unitarian Universalist churches, please visit www.uua.org.You can reach her at easton@cnc.com.

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